Another Case For Mainstreaming Adaptive Clothing

By

Marsha Walker Eastwood, MSHS, HS

The first case for adaptive clothing was made when attire for “stout” women

could not be found in the revered Godey’s Catalog. Local seamstresses were not

always willing to take on a client whose ample measurements made the task of

dressmaking a financially unrewarding chore. As a result unattractive, loose fitting

shifts found their way into many a closet. Those were the days when women had

to learn how to sew.

In 1904 when fashion visionary Lena Bryant opened her small store known

as Lane Bryant’s in New York, she realized that the market for plus sized clothing

had increased substantially and set out to create at least one retail establishment

that sold “adaptive” clothing. But it wasn’t until the day a pregnant woman

entered her store on 5th Avenue and in very soft tones asked if Lena could make a

fashionable maternity garment. It was then when she began to fully appreciate the

need for a particular type of apparel. Bryant capitalized on the new niche market

and began commercially manufacturing maternity wear in addition to the attire for

stout women.

Fast forward to 2012 where many of the consumers in need of adaptive

clothing cannot just walk into a major fashion house and whisper into the ear of the

owner requesting a special type of garment, or into a retail outlet and find adaptive

clothing among the selections gracing the display racks and rounders.

Recently a guest on my blogtalkradio show ‘What’s Your Dilemma’, Ruth J.

Clark discussed the fashion industry’s outdated stance on the quality and

availability of adaptive clothing. Clark, owner of Fashion Moves Inclusive

Designs brought the issue front and center by posing the questions: “When is the

last time you saw a businessman who uses a wheelchair, look tidy and stylish with

a Professional suit that 'fits him like a glove'? How easy is it for an arm amputee to

do up Fashion Jackets that have zippers? Have you seen many Wedding Dresses

designed specifically for a woman in a wheelchair?” Of course the larger question

is why is the fashion industry ignoring 15%-18% of consumers who have physical

disabilities that require adaptive clothing? Representing that 15-18% are parents, grandparents, doctors, lawyers, high

school teachers, college professors and athletes such as Matt Stutzman, an archer

born without arms and a participant in the Paralympics. Using his feet to hold the

bow, Stutzman broke the world record by firing an arrow and hitting a target 230

yards away. The demographic also includes pediatric orthopedic surgeon Michael

Ain, who stands 4 feet, 3 inches tall and is one of only a handful of physicians who

are dwarfs, and mom and house manager Katy Hayes who lost both arms and legs

due to developing the flesh-eating virus shortly after giving birth to her daughter.

Clark is quick to point out that these individuals all have their own full lives and

substantial accommodations have been made for them in every area of their lives

save for the garment industry.

The fashion retail business is like a child at the dinner table who is told to

eat what has been placed before it. Stores cannot sell merchandise that has not

been presented to them in a manner palatable enough for them to swallow the hook

and this holds especially true for adaptive clothing. Clark’s rant is with the

garment industry that somehow seems to feel that they are immune from the

legislative mandate outlined in the Americans With Disabilities Act and the

Human Rights legislation in Canada. The language contained in both acts

demands the reduction and/or elimination of barriers for people with disabilities

and in today’s society clothing is a huge barrier.

The lack of readily available adaptive clothing does not just impact the self

esteem of the challenged individual but the health and well being of caregivers and

therapists. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance 65.7 million caregivers

make up 29% of the adult population in the United States and that number

continues to rise as more elderly people require assistance with dressing and other

personal care needs. These caretakers also represent many of the new neck,

shoulder and back injury cases. If you do the math you can quickly discern that

there is a need for readily available mainstream adaptive clothing lines.

Fashion design houses of today should take a page from Lena Bryant’s book.

She seized the opportunity to create adaptive clothing and “after measuring 4,500

of her own customers, as well as gathering information from about 200,000 other

women, it was obvious that a new challenge had to be met.” (source: Wikipedia)

With a little over 30% of the American population in need of adaptive clothing,

surely there has to be a visionary like Lena Bryant inside each fashion house who

is ready to meet today’s challenge by removing yet another barrier for the

physically challenged and the people who care for them, and in the process create

jobs and fuel our lagging economy. That seems pretty darn palatable to me.

©2012Marsha Walker Eastwood

All rights reserved

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lwl-radio